Since 1993 there have been a very small handful of video games that had a successful film adaptation. Okay so I might be wrong because about 2 % of video game film adaptations are successful and actually did critically well. In 1993 Super Mario Bros gained a film adaptation that failed miserably in the box office and critically and since 1993 video games like Mortal Kombat, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Doom, Hitman and Assassin’s Creed have had box office bombs and critically bad movie adaptations and that’s just the ones that failed, then you have the Resident Evil franchise that did successful in the beginning in the box office but not critically and of course Warcraft, a film that is the highest grossing video game film adaption of all time, but that’s not saying much since it was hated by critics and fans of the World of Warcraft video game. But then in 2019 a new film came out of a sort of well known video game and anime character. Detective Pikachu was surprisingly a successful film and the movie is based on the underrated Pokémon video game, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Now in a way this also was a live action movie adaptation of Pokémon as the video game has found its biggest success in anime form in Japan, the United States and all over the world and has had multiple theatrical films in the early 2000’s but in 2019 Pokémon had its most successful film to date. So now the question must be asked, what makes this film the best video game movie adaption and how come it did so successful than the other video game movies?
*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD*
So this film was directed by Rob Letterman, a man who has directed some not so great and memorable films including Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens, Gulliver’s Travels and Goosebumps. Thankfully he got this film done right and it was successful so 5th time the charm I guess. The film stars Ryan Reynolds (Pikachu), Justice Smith (Tim Goodman), Kathryn Newton (Lucy Stevens), Suki Waterhouse (Ms. Norman), Chris Geere (Roger Clifford), Omar Chaparro (Sebastian), Ken Watanabe (Detective Hideo Yoshida), Rita Ora (Dr. Ann Laurent) and Bill Nighy (Howard Clifford). I will say I don’t think every choice on this cast is the best choice but I do believe that having Ryan Reynolds voice the adorable Pikachu is by far the greatest thing ever since Reynolds deciding to bring Deadpool to the big screen for his own stand alone movie. Now the film also does a pretty great job in bringing the Pokémon to life and has this world of where Pokémon and humans live together. I think the concept and that idea alone is great as the Pokémon also do every day jobs in the city that the film is mainly located in, Ryme City. Now while we have seen this in the anime I feel like we never got to really see what it would be like if we were getting sushi served from Octillery, Jigglypuff performing at a coffee shop and Machamp as a crossing guard. The reason for this is because the city doesn’t allow Pokémon battles anymore so the Pokémon and people live in the same city together with them either being owned by a human or having everyday lives like the humans. Something else that I like is the fact that it mostly takes the story of the Nintendo DS game and uses it for this film but it also adds in a bit more to the game’s narrative story and adds in some new characters. It’s pretty smart and different compared to other video game films that basically use the game’s main story and switch almost everything or nothing at all and it ends up being a total wreck. It actually gives it a story that people can enjoy and relate to and that itself is enough for this film to be liked and add in the fact that it is using the original story of the game plus the additional new concepts of the film’s story and you have yourself something lit and new compared to something we already know about and don’t care for. I’m talking to you Resident Evil as you literally butchered the film by trying too hard to be something different rather than being at least somewhat similar to the game.
Okay so Tim Goodman is a 21 year old insurance adjuster who at one point of his life wanted to be a Pokémon trainer but after the death of his mother he kind of let’s go of the dream and grew up without his detective father. However all of that is changed when Tim gets a call about his father’s death in Ryme City. Tim then goes to Ryme City to figure some things out. He heads to his father’s apartment where he meets Lucy Stevens and Psyduck and she asks Tim what he knows about Harry Goodman and why Tim doesn’t have a Pokémon. He brushes it off and goes to his father’s apartment and meet’s Harry’s partner Pikachu but this Pikachu can talk and Tim can understand him. At the same time Tim lets out this purple gas called “R” and a Pokémon species called Aipom become rabid from the gas and attacks Tim and Pikachu. After both Tim and Pikachu escape Tim learns that only he for some reason can understand Pikachu as to everyone else all they hear from Pikachu is his Pika Pika voice, done incredibly by the Pikachu’s original voice actor Ikue Otani. From the first 20 something minutes in this film we learn a lot from Tim being very distant to not only his father but his love for Pokémon and that Pikachu is trying to find Tim’s father, his police partner Harry Goodman. But 80 percent of this first 20 something minutes is how the video game Detective Pikachu begins and I have to give credit to everyone on the production team that stayed with the original story of the game with the additional story added into the film’s plot. They could have gone a different direction with this film and they could have just done a different story with different characters but instead they tell this not so known story from a video game and bring it to life for the big screen. Also just from the look of Ryme City and seeing so far what the setting of it is like I just have to say it is amazing and looks so detailed with Pokémon references but also the different amounts of Pokémon’s that live in this city. Great detail work went into making this movie and in the end it came out pretty incredibly well to the point where I was like oh it’s that Pokémon, oh my God that Pokémon looks incredible to oh my God Pika Pika. Yes I was a Pokémon stan at one point in my life but slowly went away from the anime and video game because I couldn’t keep up so after the 3rd installment of the show and video games I kind of fell off from Pokémon. But enough about that I will talk a bit more about it later, let’s go back into the film.
There is one thing I love about a film is attention to detail and the Pokémon’s in the film look phenomenal. From Pikachu to Charizard to Bulbasuar to Psyduck, these character designs looks exactly like the anime’s 2-D design and it’s incredible how much details was put into just the character’s designs but also how they talk in the show with their Pokémon language. The people who were in the production team in charge of creating these characters and the animators who brought these characters from the 2-D anime world to 3-D CGI live action world did an incredible job and deserve some more recognition as they really pay attention to the details. Now I can go back into talking about the film’s story and the film itself.
So Pikachu has no memory of what happened to Harry and he also can’t use his powers but he believes that Harry is alive, hence why he is searching for him. Tim and Pikachu then meet an informant of what is going on but it’s not a human, it’s a Pokémon, it’s Mr. Mime whose main powers is miming. Now I love Mr. Mime in the original anime because he is hilarious and kind of becomes a fun supporting character when Ash catches him as Mr. Mime becomes Ash’s mom’s helper at home. So seeing him in the big screen for this film got me excited and I wasn’t disappointed as Mr. Mime was a scene stealer in my opinion. But this scene in general is hilarious as its Tim and Pikachu having an interrogation with Mr. Mime.
You know your film is doing something right when you break the rule of physics and go into the world of such character. That sounds confusing so let me explain. Pretty much Mr. Mime as I said is a mime and mimes everything but in this scene Tim mimes back at Mr. Mime and breaks the physics of Mr. Mime’s powers and it comes off in a very hilarious but also clever way that makes the scene enjoyable. For example during the interrogation Mr. Mime puts himself behind a wall, the whole in a box trick with 4 sided walls, so Tim plays along with Mr. Mime and opens the door behind the wall and grabs a fake gas can and pours gas all over Mr. Mime. At the same time Mr. Mime plays along as well because he is a mime. I have never seen in film or in real life a mime get mimed back and especially in the show I don’t believe there was a moment when a human played along with the Mr. Mime trick and mimed along with him. I think adding this into the film makes the film more enjoyable and it adds in the comedy of the film. Even if you are unaware of Mr. Mime, Pikachu and any of the characters of Pokémon this scene alone can possibly and hopefully give you some interest of the show and of the characters. It is a very fun scene that continues our story and gives us a three character dynamic that we never thought we needed but enjoyed either way. Plus who doesn’t want to see a Ryan Reynolds Pikachu get annoyed at a Mr. Mime. Might not be the first thing I would think of seeing on the big screen but I enjoyed the shit out of this scene and found it hilarious. It might also be my favorite scene of the film to be honest.
I really liked the chemistry between Justice Smith’s Tim Goodman and a CGI Pikachu voiced by Ryan Reynolds. I think they carry this movie on their backs and they make the film’s story feel enjoyable and amazingly good. I went into this movie thinking I don’t know about this Justice guy since he wasn’t so enjoyable in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and I never did see The Get Down but he really opened my eyes in this film, even though he was the 2nd lead from a CGI yellow rat voiced by Deadpool. Either way he really was the best part of the film and his story about losing touch with his dad adds in the dramatic side of this comedic family film. I hate to say it but when Tim talks about him losing touch with his dad after his mom’s death to Pikachu it shows the side of Justice Smith that I wished I saw in Jurassic World, he can have great dramatic dialogue and act. I felt his pain and understood where he was coming from and to think they had a very dramatic scene in Pokémon and it worked and helped develop his character. As for the story to continue he wanted to continue to find his father even though he was said to be dead and he wanted to also figure out why Pikachu lost his memory. Turns out Tim’s father and Pikachu were abducted by a genetically engineered Pokémon named Mewtwo. In a way I enjoyed Mewtwo in this film, pretty much because this is the first time we are seeing the character as a antagonist in the film since the first Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie, and in a way both film’s kind of connect as in the first Pokémon movie there are Pokémon’s who have a double but they are evil and attack the good version of themselves and they were controlled by Mewtwo so in a way the fact that this purple gas called “R” has something to do with Mewtwo kind of gives me the vibes of the first original Pokémon film. And the attention to detail of the video game is used perfectly in this movie as Mewtwo was a big part of the video game and while it isn’t like how it was in this movie it still was a pretty smart move to use Mewtwo as a antagonist character in this film.
The last act and ending of this film is probably the best part of the film. While the lead up to the last act had it great moments and awesome scenes, the last act had the best action in the film. Now we need to go into Spoiler Alert territory so SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!!! We learn earlier that Howard Clifford knows who is responsible for the “R” as he says that his son Roger Clifford is the reason for everything going on. However it is at this point of the film that we learn the real antagonist of the film isn’t Roger Clifford nor is it Mewtwo, it is Howard Clifford who is responsible for everything, Harry’s disappearance, the creation of “R” and Pikachu’s memory loss. Howard controls Mewtwo’s body with a neutral link helmet and he becomes Mewtwo while he is controlling him in his wheelchair. Mewtwo’s powers can fuse humans and Pokémon together but it only works when the Pokémon is at a confused state, which it made possible with the “R” gases. It makes the Pokémon wild and puts them in a confused state and Mewtwo’s abilities can finally work. This happens during a Pokémon parade celebration in Ryme City and the only reason why Howard wants to make this possible is because he believes that this is the future of humankind. During all of this Pikachu learns the actual truth of how Harry disappeared and as his powers and memories are coming back to him after Mewtwo heals him. Pikachu returns to Ryme City and battles Howard/Mewtwo and at the same time Tim battles with Howard’s genetically modified Ditto, a Pokémon who can shape shift to any Pokémon but now has the ability to shape shift to any human. In the end though Howard is defeated and everything goes back to normal and we learn that Mewtwo hated the humankind, that is until Harry and Pikachu tried to save him and when Harry was close to death Pikachu volunteered his life to save his partner Harry, which explains the reasoning of their memories being erased but in the end we learn that Harry this whole time was Pikachu. Now I know that was a big spoiler alert especially with it being the end of the film but I did warn you.
Now usually around this time in the reviews I talk about messages in the film and this film really doesn’t rely on a message. The film as a whole is carried by Tim and Pikachu’s chemistry with it also having some great character development for Tim as he started this film not caring about Pokémon and about his father but by the middle all he wants to do is find his father and stop the creator of the “R” so he can save the Pokémon. In the end he falls back in love with Pokémon and begins a relationship with his dad and I have to say if that’s not enough backbone for your movie then I don’t know what is. Regardless this movie was awesome.
Now there are some things that did bother me in the film like there were a couple of scenes that had a comedic moment takes us away from a dramatic scene and it kind of ruined the mood of the moment for me. Also after Tim, Pikachu and all the Pokémon, there really isn’t any character that I enjoyed as a whole. Lucy was a good character that felt like she belonged in a different anime film rather than this one, Howard Clifford felt one dimensional as when he was pretending to be the good guy he kind of felt boring and when he was the villain I didn’t care too much for him and his motives, his son Roger was boring and I didn’t care for him, Ken Watanabe should have been in this movie more as for someone who was barely in this movie his character was probably the most interesting after Tim, Pikachu and the other Pokémon’s and every other supporting character are not that enjoyable to watch or care for. Also I feel like we should had gotten more scenes with Tim as a kid with his Dad and Mom before she passed away as I would of loved to see what his younger self would have been like when it comes to loving Pokémon and having a relationship with his dad, but that one is just a nip pick that is more of something I wish we had in the film and in the end it’s not fully needed as the film as a whole was fine enough without it. Other than that I liked everything else about this movie. I loved how the attention to detail for this movie was used correctly and perfectly, at least for the way the Pokémon looked to details from the original game the film is based on. I also loved that not everything was changed from the original game, other than some added features into the games story, but I think it worked out for this movie. But even though I didn’t care for every character in this film I don’t mind in the end because I care more about the story and the character dynamic of Tim and Pikachu, which develops Tim’s character in a positive way with him starting to care more about his father and Pokémon in general. Even though it’s not really mentioned you can tell that it is a part of the stories narrative in the end, especially during the scene where Pikachu is hurt. I wish there were more interesting characters I could care about but I’ll take what I can get.
Now I mentioned earlier how I used to be a Pokémon stan and from my early childhood till I think junior high I was a big fan of the anime. That was until they changed Ash’s voice and it started to get hard to follow. I kind of fell out of love for the new product but still cared for the older shows and video games. After the games were only available for the Nintendo DS I wasn’t able to play them as I didn’t own one and my sister did and she didn’t care for Pokémon like I did so she never asked for the games. It wasn’t until the first season was available on Netflix and Pokémon Go became the hottest game/app on the phone that brought me back into the Pokémon lore. I also feel like the popularity of Pokémon Go made this movie possible but I could be wrong. I think this movie did justice for not just the video game but for the original anime as it felt like a Pokémon episode minus Ash, Misty, Brock and Team Rocket. For once we had an original story from the video games in the film being used and we didn’t have to see a live action Ash or Team Rocket, we didn’t have Nurse Joy and we didn’t have every single Pokémon in the film, not that it’s a bad thing but still it could have cramped in too much for this family film. The film however feels like a buddy cop movie mixed with an action comedy mixed with the fact that this is a live action movie of both Detective Pikachu and Pokémon. It has three things in one and creates this family fun movie that every age can enjoy. If you don’t care for Pokémon then this film isn’t for you but if you are willing to give it a watch then I highly recommend you do as it is a very good film.
But this now leads me to my question from the introduction: what makes this movie the best video game adaptation and why was it more successful than the other video game adaptations? Unlike most of the box office bombs and critically unsuccessful video game adaptations, Detective Pikachu had both an original story from the game and a story new for the film. Yeah it mixed new contents of the original story but it still was able to do something different and at the same time not try to be like the video game the film is based on. For example, Sonic the Hedgehog had things in the video game be put into the film but it wasn’t bombarding the entire film itself. Instead we were able to get a shockingly decent film based on Sonic. Detective Pikachu was a video game where Tim and Pikachu were looking for Tim’s dad Harry and instead of just recreating the whole video game we were given a story where a young adult, who has no relationship with his dad, searches for his father with the help of his partner Pikachu in a city where Pokémon and humans live with each other without Pokémon battles. It becomes a comedy action film that also is a live adaptation to the anime Pokémon but uses its creates a new story with the already being used story from the video game and in the end we get a engaging film where we see character development from the young adult, a surprisingly amazing looking film that has great CGI and it holds up to the actual video game it is adapting. Unlike most video game adaptations we don’t stay focused on the video game itself we stay focused on the story as in most video game adaptation we get stuck with the original idea of the video game in the film and never get to just engage in the story of the film and get to enjoy the film itself. These movies that do fail miss the point of the game itself and get carried away with the main theme of the video game bombarding the movie itself. Nobody wants to see that as that is the point of the video game itself and we honestly don’t want to see it twice. Not only that but if you don’t use some of the main theme and stories of the game then they change too much from the source material and ruin the game they are basing the movie on entirely thus ruining the film becoming a critical and commercial success. Detective Pikachu somehow managed to do everything right and even though it changed up some of the plot of the game it did it in a way where we can actually enjoy the film and even parallel with the film with its main themes. It focuses on everything around the video game and does it right. Hopefully we can get more video game movie adaptations like Detective Pikachu in the future but until then Detective Pikachu as a whole is probably the best video game adaptation of all time. It stayed on point with the theme/story of the game but also we were able to engage with the film’s story and it also was a very smart live action film of Pokémon. It was a perfect movie as it has its flaws but in the end it stayed on point with what it was adapting and fans of both the anime and video game loved this film and that’s enough for them to actually invest their time into the film. Hell I saw this film in theaters and was invested into the film since it was announced and in the end I enjoyed every minute of it. Hollywood pay attention to what Detective Pikachu did because that is how you make a video game movie adaptation.
Final Review: 3.5 out of 5 Stars, 75% out of 100
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